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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23303692">Starlight and Beskar (on Hiatus)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlohaNozomi/pseuds/AlohaNozomi'>AlohaNozomi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Mandalorian, Mandalorian Culture, Platonic Relationships, Romance, Strangers to Lovers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:47:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,067</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23303692</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlohaNozomi/pseuds/AlohaNozomi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Estella Cruz is a NASA astronaut from Earth, the Milky Way galaxy. Her and the crew that she is with is sent to Mars to find life. Then comes the worm hole as they are heading back home to Earth. Everything goes black... Wormholes send people to other galaxies right? Yeah. That's definitely what happened. So, who is the one in the shiny metal armor?</p><p>(NOTE: this is not an "OC is a fan of star wars and ends up in the SW universe." The SW universe movies don't exist in this AU if you get what I'm saying. I just wanted to clarify for you guys what the intentions are.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Baby Yoda &amp; The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV) &amp; Original Character(s), The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Starlight and Beskar (on Hiatus)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I hope you guys can enjoy this. I wasn't really into AU's for the Mandalorian but, this seemed like it was going to be a pretty good idea and I haven't seen it done yet. I figured what the hell and so here we are! I did have to do some research for the first chapter of this story so if some things are wrong, I apologize in advance. Would love to get feedback on this first chapter! You can find me on tumblr: starxfighter.tumblr.com</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>“They say home is where your heart is. Mine is among the stars, across the universe.” </em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>- Quotes ‘nd Notes</em>
  </strong>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Entry 1: Mission to Mars</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Date: 20 JUL 2028</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>First Lt. Cruz, Estella M. (USN)</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I am keeping this log to jot down everything that is seen or heard on our mission to Mars. It will take us, at least, a year to get there. We are the first shuttle with human bodies to enter its atmosphere and the first humans to step foot onto the planet. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Estella, mija,” she heard the sound of her adoptive father call to her in a concerned tone. “Are you okay? I’m sure you’re nervous right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Estella looked up from the dinner table and over at both her adoptive parents. She nodded and smiled a bit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I’m good.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Estella was the adoptive daughter of Mateo and Natalie Cruz. She was originally from Puerto Rico and was adopted by them in San Juan when she was four years old. Mateo and Natalie, at the time, were planning on adopting a child as they couldn’t have any of their own. They flew all the way there from Camp Pendleton, California. Both Mateo and Natalie were stationed at that base. They were both U.S. Marines. After Natalie and Mateo adopted Estella, Natalie finished up her enlistment with the Marine Corps and decided to become a full time mom to her. Mateo stayed in and later on went on to retire from the Marine Corps Infantry as a Gunnery Sergeant. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Like her parents, Estella went into the military. The only difference being that she went into college first and then later joined the U.S. Navy. She was determined to be a pilot and not just any pilot, a fighter pilot. She was successful and even went all the way to Top Gun just to be the best. Her call sign: Phoenix. She was a fire spitting female and she blazed through the skies. At least, that’s what everyone else says but, she is one of the best and it showed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her heart remained in the skies but, her biggest love of all was the stars. Her father had bought her a telescope when she was very young. She had always wanted to be an astronaut and explore the galaxy. Now that she’s older it’s obviously not doable to explore the entire Milky Way galaxy, nevertheless the universe, right? Here she was, though, packing her essentials for space exploration for the next day. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Was she actually nervous? Perhaps. Someone else was going to be flying the shuttle and not her. That actually made her a bit nervous in itself. She was used to flying her own fighter jet herself. Anytime someone else flew, it was a no go!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Estella sat in her old bedroom on it’s little balcony. Her parents had already said their goodnights and went to bed. She had to get some sleep soon. She had to be by at least 4 a.m. to get ready, eat, get out of the house and be there on time for pre-flight formation and accountability. This was going to be an exciting new chapter and journey in her life and she couldn’t wait but Estella had this weird notion going on in her gut that this was probably going to also change her life forever. </span>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She poured that hot coffee from the pot and into her metal Tervis Tumbler cup, added sugar and her mocha flavored creamer and headed on out the door with her parents trailing behind her. Of course they were going to go with her and drop her off at the space station: Kennedy Space Center. After her father had retired, the whole family moved to Florida. Her mother was from there. They had family living here still too. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The air in Florida was warm even though it was still pretty dark out. She shut her door to the Honda they were driving in and stared at the station. She could see people lining up around the area to catch a glimpse of the shuttle taking off when it was time. She took a deep breath and wrapped her one arm around her mother’s waist as they walked up to the station's doors with her father trailing behind with her bag. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did you bring your notebook?” her mother asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Estella nodded and replied, “yes mama. Everything is all packed and ready to go.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her mother smiled and faced forward again, “make sure you write everything down in that book. You're gonna want to look back on these days and remember what you witnessed, even when you’re old and you’re grandchildren or even, you’re children, will want to know. Maybe they'll even use your experiences for research around the world.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Natalie was excited for her daughter. She had watched her grow up and leave home to join the military after college. She watched her go through all her training and has been there from the start of it all, even on the days Estella would call and cry about how stressed and tired she is from everything. It all led to the dream Estella had from when she was a little girl. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well…” They had now reached the area where her parents could not go and Estella had turned to her parents with tears forming in her eyes. “I will be seeing you guys in two years from now o-or longer?... I’ll be fine and I’ll call you guys on Skype or something when we have down time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her parents smiled at her and hugged her long and tight.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We love you so much and we are so proud of you, Stella. You have done so much more than what we have ever done in our lives and we are so happy that you're getting to be a part of this. Don’t worry about us, we will be fine and we will be waiting for your return,” her father said as he held her hands. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you guys too. More than anything and… thank you for everything.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With that, she turned around to face one of her fellow comrades that was waiting for her down the hall and walked on. She turned again to face her parents from afar and waved at them, smiling. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*************</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stared off into space while in deep thought. Lives were lost at the cost of this little, green child and they were still going to be hunted down by Moff Gideon and his pack of womprat,  Empire scum. Yet, he perhaps felt a little something for the child now that he was his adoptive father and all. The child was his foundling and nothing else could be done of it. This is the Way. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had to find the child’s family or at least someone who knew how to help the child control his powers. The “Force” is what he heard it was called. He had only ever heard stories of Jedi’s who wielded it back from the days of the Old Republic and of one sole Jedi by the name of Skywalker who had defeated the Empire. Also the stories of the war between Mandalore and the Jedi. But, they had to be just tales, right? Probably not and the child was proof that something just had to be true. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The child sat next to him in his seat fast asleep with the little metal ball in his clutch. The Mandalorian stared at him and watched for a little bit and was distracted by some type of explosion in between the stars. He had never seen such a thing in his entire life. It was like a hole. A dark hole that led to just blackness? He put the Razor Crest at a slower speed than what it was originally to watch this random scene take place. Some type of ship flew out from it. It was white in color and all banged up. It was a weird looking thing in all honesty with a logo that was not from this sector at all. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wondered if there was anyone inside or if they were even alive.There was no way they’d be alive if they crashed into another planet. Could they? The random space ship was headed straight for the same place that he was going to be stopping at for supplies: Tatooine. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***********</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The point of this mission to Mars that they were attempting was for ‘Project Life.’ It was simply a project that had been done before: looking for life on Mars. This time, instead of robots, they were going to use people. Of course, they would have a robot with them though. They called the robot ‘Bee.’ There was no particular reason but that it was black and yellow in color. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Estella’s heart was racing as they all clamored into their seats to prepare for take off. There would be six people on this mission, including her. She could feel the engine thundering from below them, it’s sound vibrating in her ears and almost drowning out the voices coming from the headphones they wore. She could make out the </span>
  <em>
    <span>beep-boop </span>
  </em>
  <span>noises from the control and buttons on the ship. They radiated flashing lights of blue and red with hints or green and orange. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The pilot and co-pilot of the ship placed their hands on the controls and feet firmly on the floor. She was so distracted by everything around her that she had just missed the execution: </span>
  <em>
    <span>take off. </span>
  </em>
  <span>This was nothing new to her, the G forces that she felt weighing down on her body. She hoped and prayed silently in her mind that they would not explode while exiting the different layers of atmospheres. Morbid as it may seem, it has happened before and she, unfortunately, had thought about it before they took off. Not exactly the kind of mentality you want to have while going on a space shuttle into space.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It seemed like hours had gone by before they suddenly stopped. It was then she heard a crowd cheering in the ear pieces and her comrades cheering in the shuttle. They had made it! All those atmospheric layers were behind them and they were suddenly drifting in space. Slow and steady. She could feel her body trying to rise from the seat. She almost forgot that there was zero gravity up here too. She smiled to herself and waited for everyone to unbuckle from their seats so that she could follow suit. This was going to be a long, long journey but, to planet Earth, it was all worth it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>1 year later…</em>
  </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The captain of the crew was the first to venture out into the unknown territory of planet Mars. Did he really use that quote? Yes, yes he did. Estella laughed and shook her head. The crew she was with had become like family over the course of the year while they were in flight to Mars. She got along with each one of them and they all seemed to know each other more personally than they had when they first started. Not much to do on a spaceship to another planet than actually talk to each other. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Estella stepped out and her anxiety eased itself out. The ground really was red and left footprints in her wake wherever she went. The texture was almost like clay. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Don’t know how plants would be able to grow here? </span>
  </em>
  <span>She thought to herself. Who knows if the ground had any type of nutritional value to it for plants. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The biggest thing for them at this moment was to see if water could even withstand the air here. If they could pour it into a glass cup and it would stay. Planting some type of plant would come next because they were going to try that as well. She looked over the horizon as she got to the top of a small hill, her and another crew member. The sun always seemed like it was setting here or at least it wasn't and it was just the sky that remained like it was. Everything just seemed so red. It would take years and years on life living here to make it, well, colorful. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There has to be more out there…</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She felt the wind blow a little bit from behind her as if it beckoned her to go across it’s red desert. That gut feeling she felt a while back had crept itself back into her mind and her breathing trembled. She became nervous once more. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cruz? We need you and McKinley back at the shuttle. We’re turning in for the day.” Thank Heavens for the Captain calling them back and distracting her gut feeling. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>1 Month later… </em>
  </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All her logs from the month had been written successfully and on time. It feels like it had gone by really quickly, being here on the big, red planet. They were going to leave the plant they had brought with them here in hopes that perhaps the seeds would spread and create more of the same plant, like it would as if it was on Earth. Estella got the honor of planting it into the ground. She had a beautiful garden back home herself and so the crew voted that she would plant it on Mars. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Home. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was that again? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was shocked that she would even ask herself that question. She had grown an attachment to life out here and on the spaceship that she almost wanted to cry as they were getting ready to take off again. Like she didn’t want to leave? She wanted to explore more but, there was only so much time and supplies that they had. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time she actually paid more attention as they took off. The engine thundered underneath them again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re clear for take off,” the voice inside the headphones said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here we gooo!” Exclaimed one of the crew members and everyone smiled to themselves. This had been a successful journey. It was one that they would return home from and be placed into history books as the pioneers who went to look for life on Mars. Though no alien life forms were found, they planted one from their planet instead. For the next few months that plant will be watched. The plant was cactus. Hardy and can survive droughts. They hoped that maybe rain would fall onto the planet although, they weren’t entirely sure if the rain was actually acidic. If so, it would probably kill the plant. It didn't hurt to try and experi-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The alarms blared and panic rose all around her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Captain what’s going on?” the commander from Earth was now on the headphones calling in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have no idea!” the Captain shouted into the mic. “It’s like we’re being turned around!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She could hear fear rise from back at the station they communicated with from Earth. She sat there frozen and she looked outside the window from the seat. There seemed to be a hole. A dark, black hole that led to nothingness on the other side. The hole looked like there was light haloed around it with rings, like Saturn. They weren’t really rings though, just light. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A noise from all around the ship startled the crew. It sounded like a low groan and then little pebbles hitting it all at once. The captain resumed his communication with the station back on Earth, trying to figure out how to use the ship's power to pull them out and then the whole crew saw it. The captain froze and his mouth dropped open. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No way…” he muttered. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His co-pilot looked over at him and she said, “I didn’t know a wormhole existed right near Mars. How did we not see this?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She tried to not sound like she was panicking but Estella could hear it in her voice that she was definitely scared. That concerned the rest of them. Space was a wild place and we didn’t know that much about it even after all the years of space exploration. We did, however, know that there existed these things called wormholes. Holes that would lead to other dimensions? Perhaps. Take us back in time? Maybe… Another galaxy?... If we survived it. Then how would you get home from there?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everyone had scurried in their seats to do their part in turning the ship back around and from out of the wormhole’s pull. Then came the crashing noises and the louder groans from the ship. It was as if it was gonna tear the space shuttle in half. Before they knew it, it was too late. The communication had started to get staticky and was cutting the other side out so they couldn’t hear them. The lights in the ship flickered more than they should have and then all went black.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her thoughts flickered immediately to her family and friends back home. To the butterfly garden she made in her parents backyard. The ocean when she went surfing in the fall. Her fighter jet and the times when she flew. Her times at the Top Gun academy. College and boot camp in the Navy. High School and middle school. The first time she went to kindergarten and  when she was adopted by her parents. Puerto Rico. The place she was born and the poor village she lived in…. Everything was going backwards?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Estella felt sick to her stomach. She could feel the ship turn and roll as it was swallowed. The sounds of it roaring in her ears. Her body felt like it was being ripped in half. Her face numbed and she felt dizzy. She thinks she might have thrown up but her mind was hazed over. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>So, this is death. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She thought to herself as she blacked out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>************</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He followed the ship all the way to the planet Tatooine and witnessed it going into flames and crashing into the ground.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked over at the now awoken child and sighed, “this does not look good.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The child cooed as they slowly flew down about a few miles away from the crash site so that they could go and search for survivors. Although he was more curious about this than anything the Mandalorian had a gut feeling that this was going to change his life forever. </span>
</p><p><br/>
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